Do you believe in astrology? What is your sign.

[s_lone]

About telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance, and various forms of ESP. It's wrong to think that all this is demonstrably false. It would also be wrong to say it is demonstrably true. An honest answer would be to say that it doesn't seem possible. But who are we to say that telepathy is literally impossible? We simply do not know that as a fact. In a million years, if by any beautiful chance humanity still exists, we might very well communicate telepathically.

It's already pretty amazing that we can communicate so easily by typing little symbols onto our computer screens. I really don't see why two powerful brains couldn't connect directly to the "mental world" and communicate directly.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Re: RE: Do you believe in astrology? What is your sign.

About telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance, and various forms of ESP. It's wrong to think that all this is demonstrably false.

Every properly controlled test of those faculties fails. Every one, without exception. Not even as well-established an activity as dowsing , in tests the dowsers themselves agree are fair and reasonable, shows anything better than chance results under properly controlled conditions. Parapsychology in over a century of research and testing has produced no legitimate results at all. There's nothing there.

 

[s_lone]

Re: RE: Do you believe in astrology? What is your sign.

About telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance, and various forms of ESP. It's wrong to think that all this is demonstrably false.

Every properly controlled test of those faculties fails. Every one, without exception. Not even as well-established an activity as dowsing , in tests the dowsers themselves agree are fair and reasonable, shows anything better than chance results under properly controlled conditions. Parapsychology in over a century of research and testing has produced no legitimate results at all. There's nothing there.

I agree, paranormal phenomenon wasn't proved scientifically...yet. But you only quoted part of my post... My point is that we don't know if that kind of phenomenon is theoretically possible. The idea that 2 brains could communicate data telepathically really isn't such a far-fetched idea. Do you think it's absolutely impossible that highly evolved beings could communicate telepathically?

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Re: RE: Do you believe in astrology? What is your sign.

I agree, paranormal phenomenon wasn't proved scientifically...yet. But you only quoted part of my post...

Yeah, I had to think about it for a while. Outside the axiomatic systems of mathematics, proving something false is pretty difficult. Usually the best we can do, as in the case of paranormal phenomena, is show they're highly unlikely, but a single counter-example will blow all that away.

I can't think of any reason why telepathy would be impossible in principle. The human nervous system runs on a few watts of electrical power, and produces electromagnetic signals readily detectable by EEG and ECG machines. There's no reason in principle why such signals couldn't be used for direct nervous system to nervous system communication. I think the metabolic cost might be pretty high though. The human brain already accounts for something like 30% of total metabolic activity, if my memory is correct, and telepathy would cost even more. There'd have to be strong selection pressure favouring its evolution, and I can't imagine what that might be. That's just a failure of my imagination though, nature has a way of perpetually surprising us.

 

[s_lone]

Re: RE: Do you believe in astrology? What is your sign.

I agree, paranormal phenomenon wasn't proved scientifically...yet. But you only quoted part of my post...

Yeah, I had to think about it for a while. Outside the axiomatic systems of mathematics, proving something false is pretty difficult. Usually the best we can do, as in the case of paranormal phenomena, is show they're highly unlikely, but a single counter-example will blow all that away.

I can't think of any reason why telepathy would be impossible in principle. The human nervous system runs on a few watts of electrical power, and produces electromagnetic signals readily detectable by EEG and ECG machines. There's no reason in principle why such signals couldn't be used for direct nervous system to nervous system communication. I think the metabolic cost might be pretty high though. The human brain already accounts for something like 30% of total metabolic activity, if my memory is correct, and telepathy would cost even more. There'd have to be strong selection pressure favouring its evolution, and I can't imagine what that might be. That's just a failure of my imagination though, nature has a way of perpetually surprising us.

:lol: Presented that way, you're right, I'm not sure it would really be worth the metabolic cost to communicate in that type of telepathy! Why would we, or nature, go through all this trouble while it's so easy for us to use our good old spoken/written/word/language system?

We're reaching a point where it's clear to me that you're way of thinking is kind of the reverse of mine. But i'm not saying there's a right way to think in this situation. You present telepathy as energy transferred through matter. My idea of telepathy is a transfer of mental energy through a "mental plane" or "mental dimension"... The realm of ideas, principles and meaning. To me, matter as we experience it is an expression of this "mental" level of reality. I'd say that energy in its purest essence is what this mental dimension is made of. Telepathy would demand a purification of the thought process into pure energy that could be transferred from one living entitiy to another without any form of "material" resistance...

In a way, speaking is a brilliant way of communicating because we use air vibrations (minimal material resistance) to transfer ideas.

 

[s_lone]

Prepare to laugh or cry...

I guess love would be a very favourable factor for telepathy to happen. Looking straight into the eyes of loved ones gets pretty close to telepathic communication.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Re: RE: Do you believe in astrology? What is your sign.

We're reaching a point where it's clear to me that you're way of thinking is kind of the reverse of mine.... My idea of telepathy is a transfer of mental energy through a "mental plane" or "mental dimension"... The realm of ideas, principles and meaning.

I'm an engineer by training and inclination, if you hadn't guessed by now, or seen other posts in which I make that statement. Telepathy, to exist at all, to my way of thinking has to have some plausible mechanism and has to involve some measurable energy transfer. I don't think science has done much more than scratch the surface when it comes to truly understanding the nature of reality and what's possible (or forbidden). I'm inclined to think the cosmos is fundamentally fractal, which loosely speaking means that no matter at what scale we inspect it, from multi-billions of light years to sub-billionths of a millimetre and beyond, it'll display the same degree of complexity. We're never going to figure it all out, and that's a good thing; the journey's far more interesting than the destination.

To me the realm of ideas, principles, and meaning, has no existence outside our minds. (And we'll have to leave aside for the moment the question of what "mind" is.) That's not to belittle or denigrate it, it just means that those are things we've invented to give structure and purpose to our lives. Nothing wrong with that, in fact I think everything's right with that. As I've said elsewhere in these forums, I think the meaning of life is to be found in our relationships with other people, in what we can do to, with, for, and sometimes in spite of, the other people in our lives. As far as I can tell, that's all there is. We make our own meanings, the cosmos I think is supremely indifferent to us.

Obviously your thoughts run in different channels than mine do. I'm certain that some of your thoughts I'd dismiss as mystic nonsense, and some of mine you'd dismiss as narrow-minded materialism and scientism. In fact I think we've both done exactly that in previous posts... No matter. Yours is an interesting and intelligent mind and I'm pleased that you're willing to share parts of it here. People like you are why I keep coming back here.

 

[s_lone]

Dexter Sinister, you've just accomplished a beautiful landing back to earth. It was a perillous trip out there in space but we made it back safely with all our feathers intact. Hope to fly with you again...

Cheers to you and good night!

 

[Jay]

Dex isn't a Capricorn, just like me.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

... Hope to fly with you again...

Hey ol' buddy, always a pleasure to encounter another one of the Good Guys.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Re: RE: Do you believe in astrology? What is your sign.

Dex isn't a Capricorn, just like me.

Damn right I'm not. That's one of the many things I'm not. I'm not even a Taurus, despite a birth date that says I am. I'm just a guy, my birth date has nothing to do with anything except my birthday, when I get cake and candles and ice cream and if I'm lucky some fabulous hot times with my fabulous hot wife... well, that's nobody's business but mine. :lol:

 

[s_lone]

Re: RE: Do you believe in astrology? What is your sign.

Dex isn't a Capricorn, just like me.

Damn right I'm not. That's one of the many things I'm not. I'm not even a Taurus, despite a birth date that says I am. I'm just a guy, my birth date has nothing to do with anything except my birthday, when I get cake and candles and ice cream and if I'm lucky some fabulous hot times with my fabulous hot wife... well, that's nobody's business but mine. :lol:

Taurus eh? Ruled by Venus, goddess of love and beauty... and good times! Have fun!

 

[Jay]

Ruled by Venus, goddess of love and beauty

Some guys have all the luck...

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Re: RE: Do you believe in astrology? What is your sign.

Ruled by Venus

No. NOT Venus. Testosterone maybe, but not Venus, unless she's really the Goddess of Testosterone.

Jeez, 57 years old and still a slave to my... well, never mind. I'd post a picture of my wife but then all you guys would be coming looking for her...

Hmm... we've sure come a long way from that hot babe Sassylassie's original post. :lol:

 

[bignick]

RE: Do you believe in ast

We Sag lions roar and we stick together oh yeah we eat fish somtimes but everyone makes mistakes.... Right Theresa?